


Defect

by idontbelieveinmountains



Category: RWBY
Genre: Friends to Lovers, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Spoilers: Volume 8 (RWBY), minor spoilers for v8c9
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 09:14:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29433696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idontbelieveinmountains/pseuds/idontbelieveinmountains
Summary: Jaune and his team get an unexpected helping hand after escaping Salem's whale.
Relationships: Marrow Amin/Jaune Arc
Comments: 3
Kudos: 37





	Defect

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this for my friend Isaac. Happy Valentines day, you gay bitch!!

Jaunes vision blurred as he ran as fast as he could away from Salem’s monster. He could hear the screams of grimm and Atlesian soldiers alike, and the cold night air stung his nostrils. In his arms was Oscar, beat to hell but still breathing, thank the gods. Now all that mattered was getting him to safety, and they were far too close to the front lines right now. Jaune called over to Yang at his left. 

“What should we do?” He yelled over his shoulder. 

“I honestly didn’t think we’d get this far!” Yang said, shooting a small nevermore out of the air. Jaune quickly scanned his field of vision for something, anything. _This is your job,_ he thought to himself. _You’re the strategist, so think of something._ He racked his brain for ideas, but nothing was coming up. This wasn’t normal. None of this was normal. Then, before he could think of anything, a strong gust of wind hit them all from above. 

“Look out!” Ren yelled. When Jaune looked up, a Manta airship was descending upon the exhausted party. Ren and Yang readied their weapons. Jaune held Oscar closer to his chest. The ship landed shakily, and what appeared behind the bay doors surprised everyone. 

“...Marrow?” 

None other than the rookie Ace Operative himself stood before them, making his way out of the airship. Jaune wanted so badly to believe that it was because he was coming to save them, but he knew better now than to trust the Atlesian military. Though, why he was alone, none of them could figure out. 

“Hey…” Marrow said meekly. Something about his behaviour was off to Jaune.

“Here to arrest us again?” Yang asked, cuttingly. Marrow’s expression shifted. 

“No, I’m going to get you guys out of here. Now come on, we don’t have much time.” Jaune’s eyes widened, and he locked eyes with Marrow. He wanted to believe the other man was telling the truth. 

“Uh, what?” Yang began, “Are you kidding me? Why the hell should we trust you after what you did?” She yelled.

“You shouldn’t, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Marrow pleaded, “But they’re coming for me - for all of us - and I don’t know what else to do. I just know I can’t be a soldier anymore.” That last statement hung in the air for a little while. He sounded so sincere, but Yang still wasn’t convinced. 

“If you really think we’re going to-”

_“Guys.”_ Jaune finally interjected. He looked down, drawing everyone’s attention to the young boy he still cradled in his arms. Far too young to be in the middle of a war. “We need to get Oscar to safety, he’s in bad shape.” The other two couldn’t exactly argue with that. Jaune looked over at Ren for approval. 

“He’s telling the truth.” Ren said. Jaune nodded. 

“Alright, then let’s-” Just then, another ship came speeding over the horizon. It hovered above the five of them, and the bay doors opened to reveal the rest of the remaining Ace Ops. Elm and Harriet’s eyes were full of anger and betrayal, even Vine looked shocked at what he was seeing. 

“Marrow! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Harriet yelled over the oppressive noise of the airship. Jaune could swear he heard Marrow swear under his breath in response. The new rebel didn’t seem like he could think of anything more to say, so Elm did it for him. 

“Traitor!” She screamed, not hesitating to ready her hammer against her former teammate. There was a leap, then a yell. Marrow finally spoke, and snapped his fingers. 

_“Stay!”_

Time froze. The Ace Ops could do nothing but wear expressions of pure shock as Marrow held them in place. He quickly turned to the rest of the group. “Let’s go!” He yelled. Just this once, the rest of the party decided to follow orders.

\- - -

Jaune gently laid Oscar down on one of the benches inside the Manta as the ship took off. He seemed stable, but Jaune decided to use the rest of his aura to heal the kid a bit anyways. Yang came up and rested a hand on his shoulder. 

“Why don’t you go sit down for a bit? Me and Ren can look after him.” Jaune nodded, exhausted from the day they had. He decided to go sit up in the cockpit next to Marrow. Neither really knew what to say for a few moments, but Jaune decided to break the silence. 

“Hey, I just wanted to say thanks. That couldn’t have been easy for you.” He said, sincerely. Marrow still seemed pretty shaken by the whole affair. 

“You guys needed help, I wasn’t going to just let you die out there.” He replied. Jaune finally allowed himself to relax, leaning back in the co-pilot’s chair and taking a deep breath. He looked out at the storm of grimm outside, and wondered how everything became such a mess so quickly. He didn’t know how they were going to fix it, but he knew it would be a lot easier now that they had more people on their side. 

“So what happens now?” He asked. Marrow thought on that for a moment. 

“I don’t know.” He said simply, “I guess we’re all fugitives now. I don’t suppose you guys have any open slots on your team?” Jaune smiled. 

“We always do.” Finally, Marrow smiled back. It was an oddly calm and tender moment, considering everything they had just been through. But it was nice. Jaune could get used to more easiness like this, even if it was only temporary. “Friends?” He asked. 

Marrow nodded, “Friends.” Jaune grinned. They both just sat there for a while, staring down at the seemingly doomed cities before them. Jaune spoke up after a few minutes of silence.

“So I know the world is ending and all, but...if we survive all of this, do you maybe wanna grab a coffee sometime?” Jaune asked. Marrow beamed.

“I’d love that.”

**Author's Note:**

> _j u a n_


End file.
